Riley Bryant Smith is an American film actor and singer for the band The Life
of Riley. Background
Smith's parents are Russ and Roxanne Smith. He was born in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, and raised in Marion, Iowa on his parents’ horse ranch. He became an
accomplished rider, competing in a horse show for the first time when he was 9
years old. When he was 15, he placed 4th in 3-Year-Old Mares division at the
American Quarter Horse Youth World Championship, and at 16 won the American
Quarter Horse Youth World Championship. When he was 17, he became president of
the 50,000-member youth association, becoming the youngest person to serve as
corresponding vice president of American Quarter Horse Youth Association.
He graduated from Alburnett Junior-Senior High School in 1997, and
his original intention was to earn a college degree to cover his horse
racing, but he was "discovered" at the Westdale Mall in Cedar Rapids by a local
talent scout and flew to New York City to compete at the International Modeling
and Talent Association Convention. There he was signed to a Tommy Hilfiger
modeling campaign. He used the money he earned to pay for acting classes.
Career Three months after the Hilfiger
campaign, Smith flew to Los Angeles to do a screen test for the 1998 WB pilot
Minor Threat, but the pilot was not picked up. Subsequently, he went on to
do eight prime time network pilots, more than a dozen guest-starring roles, and
recurring character roles in three television series.
= Film= Smith has appeared in the film Eight
Legged Freaks, Not Another Teen Movie, Radio, New York Minute and the Sundance
Film Festival Grand Jury nominee Weapons.
For the film New York Minute, he and co-star Jared Padalecki were hand picked
for their roles by stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen. After his role as Jim, the
love interest for Ashley's character of Jane, he admitted that he could not tell
the sisters apart. In Radio, Smith had the role of Johnny
Clay, team star and ringleader of the group pulling nasty pranks on Cuba
Gooding, Jr.'s character of Radio. For their work in the film, key production
members were awarded a 2005 CAMIE Award; These included executive producer Todd
Garner, director Michael Tollin, screenwriter Mike Rich, and actors Cuba
Gooding Jr., Ed Harris, Riley Smith, Alfre Woodard, Brent Sexton, S. Epatha
Merkerson and Sarah Drew. = Television=
Smith had recurring roles in the Emmy-nominated CBS series Joan of
Arcadia, the highly acclaimed Emmy Fox show 24 season 3 as Kyle Singer, the
short-lived WB series Summerland and the acclaimed Judd Apatow creation for NBC
Freaks and Geeks. He was also a main cast member in the short lived Fox show
Drive. Riley also played Dean Talon in the Disney Channel movie Motocrossed. He
played a love interest and mentor to Andrea "Andy" Carson on the race track.
He played Russ, the love interest of Mary Elizabeth Winstead's character in
the dancing film Make It Happen. In 2008 Smith joined in collaboration
with The Academy of Cinema and Television to create an online
educational series for children and teens interested in the entertainment
industry, and in 2009 he appeared in one episode of Ghost Whisperer, a paranormal
TV series starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. Smith also appeared in seven episodes of
the fifth season of 90210 as Riley Wallace, mostly starring alongside two
of the shows main stars Shenae Grimes and Tristan Wilds, in 2012-2013.
In 2014 Smith played the role of Keith in the HBO series True Blood. In 2015,
he will play Markus Keen in the ABC musical drama series Nashville.
= Music= Smith took up the guitar to fill
downtime while on film sets, and in 2006, he and Henri O'Connor formed the
band "The Life of Riley", of which he is guitarist and lead singer. His original
idea was to write music that could be used in his films, but when he and his
bandmates had written 16 songs, they picked 11 and cut an album. The song
most important to Riley is "Forget about me". He describes the lyrics as clear
and simple and yet very deep and emotional. As of August 2010, the Los
Angeles based group has released 3 CDs: The Life of Riley, Long Way Home EP and
Live in Hollywood at the Hotel Cafe. They have also performed at such music
festivals as the New Bohemia Music Festival.
Filmography = Film=
= Television= Recognition
= Awards and nominations= 2005, Won CAMIE Award for Radio
References External links
Riley Smith at the Internet Movie Database
The Official Riley Smith Website Riley Smith on Twitter
The Official Facebook of Riley Smith Riley Smith on Myspace